Experts split from Walsh on abortion

Rep. Joe Walsh on Thursday said that technology has advanced to the point that abortions are never needed to save the health or life of a mother, but medical experts — including the leading group of obstetrician-gynecologists — say that’s not the case.

“There is no such exception as life of the mother,” Walsh said after last night’s debate with Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth, according to WGN. “With advances in science and technology, ‘health of the mother’ has become a tool for abortions of any time or for any reason.”

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But the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a statement Friday that even today’s medical advances can’t prevent the need for abortions to save the mother's life in every case.

“Abortions are necessary in a number of circumstances to save the life of a woman or to preserve her health,” the college said. “Unfortunately, pregnancy is not a risk-free life event, particularly for many women with chronic medical conditions. Despite all of our medical advances, more than 600 women die each year from pregnancy- and childbirth-related reasons right here in the US. In fact, many more women would die each year if they did not have access to abortion to protect their health or to save their lives.”

Dr. Sara Imershein, an obstetrician and gynecologist in private practice in Washington, D.C., told POLITICO there are “numerous situations where life of the mother would be a reason to terminate the pregnancy.” She cited cancer, multiple pregnancies, hemorrhaging or situations in which the mother’s health is at risk, such as patients with sickle cell anemia or chickenpox.

“Unfortunately, there are many cases where technology cannot do what a legislator would like it to do,” she said.

Walsh has scheduled a press conference in Illinois for Friday afternoon to address the controversy about his remarks.

Dr. Cassing Hammond, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, near Walsh’s Illinois district, testified to Congress in May that life-saving abortions are sometimes necessary.

“The witnesses claim that abortion care is never necessary to save a woman’s life,” he testified in response to a House bill on abortions. “These claims are also untrue.”

Hammond, who is on the board of the National Abortion Federation, said that one of his own patients began hemorrhaging at 20 weeks. The doctor immediately ended the pregnancy.

“Had we not quickly intervened to terminate the pregnancy, she would have bled to death, just as women do in countries with limited access to obstetric services,” he said.

Still, abortions to save the mother’s life are rare.

In 1987, only 2.8 percent of abortions performed in the United States were done because of risk to the mother’s life, according to a study in International Family Planning Perspectives.

But that doesn’t mean it never happens. Judy Alberts, a Wisconsin woman who supports Planned Parenthood, told POLITICO on Friday that she faced little choice when she developed a blood clot that stretched from her elbow to shoulder during her pregnancy.

Alberts said her doctor told her he couldn’t guarantee that she would survive if she maintained the pregnancy, which she and her husband wanted.

“When he said the words ‘there is no guarantee,’ my husband just about fell off his chair,” Alberts said. The decision, she said, “broke our hearts.”

She said she chose to end the pregnancy to ensure that her first child grew up with a mother.

Alberts said when she heard about Walsh’s comments, her reaction was, “Oh my gosh, how ludicrous. This man is so uneducated.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:17 p.m. on October 19, 2012.